Art Talk

So, ladies and gentlemen, this is the time of the year when all of you, art lovers, must put on running shoes and make a mad dash around town. Once again, the month of January is crowded in L.A. with art fairs that bring here hundreds of art dealers from the United States and abroad, all of them eager to spread before you thousands of paintings, sculptures, photographs, videos — you name it...

Nothing, absolutely nothing happens in the world captured in the photos by William Eggleston. But if you take a deep breath and allow yourself the luxury of slowing down, then his photos will start to whisper and maybe even sing to you their irresistible songs...

Last week's program, American Museums: All Talk, No Walk, addressed the issue of the latest artistic censorship, when two leading American museums were intimidated by controversy caused by art they put on display. I didn't expect to do a follow up to this program, but so many of you placed comments on the Art Talk page of the KCRW website...that I decided, with your help, to try to undo the whitewashing done by MOCA and the Smithsonian.

In a short program like this, there is no way to do justice to the New York art scene that I plunged head first into last week. The week after Thanksgiving is my favorite time to go there: museums and galleries are putting their best foot forward, and theaters and concert halls follow the same trend. So if you are thinking of visiting the Big Apple, here is a haiku review of the best that I saw and experienced there...

To make your life a little bit easier during the Christmas frenzy, here is a wonderful array of art books to give as holiday gifts. Trust me, your friends and family will be amused and entertained...

Have you ever heard the expression, "An exhibition a day keeps the devil away?" Ok, I made it up, but in a nutshell, that sums up my religious philosophy. And that's why, for the upcoming Thanksgiving weekend, I want to present you with a whole spread of delicious art exhibitions that should keep the devil away for the entire week...

Probably many of you would agree that we are living in a rather cynical age, and that's why it's so inspiring to witness the miracle of resurrection. And no, I'm not talking about the story of Jesus. I'm talking about MOCA, our Museum of Contemporary Art, which last year swiftly rose from the ashes thanks to the tremendous support of Los Angeles artists, collectors, and especially the generosity of LA philanthropists Eli and Edythe Broad...

Keep us, Lord, from losing close friends...those are the words of a Russian poet lamenting the loss of dear friends. In Russian, it goes like this: "Teryat druzei gospod ne prevedi." But somehow, when departed friends happen to be good artists, their spirit continues to live on in their art, and for those of us left behind, it's welcome consolation...

I am very tempted today to honor L.A.'s 30-year-old Museum of Contemporary Art, which thinks of itself as the ‘Artist's Museum,' by simply reading -- with much respect and admiration -- the names of all 140 artists whose works are presented in the ambitious new exhibition occupying both of its downtown venues, MOCA Grand Avenue and the Geffen Contemporary. But going through this roster would take all the time and space allotted for Art Talk. Instead, I want to extend my sincere congratulations to the museum, whose triumphs and tribulations we, Angelenos, have witnessed over the past three decades...

The recent announcement that KCET, L.A.’s flagship public television station, cut its ties to PBS as a result of a protracted financial dispute with the network, was met with disbelief. You could hear the outcry: What would happen to the innocent children -- all those little angels in our city -- deprived of their beloved Sesame Street? And how will aging Baby Boomers manage without their Antiques Roadshow and News Hour? But come now, dry your tears and rest assured: KOCE, the Orange County-based public TV station, announced that it will fill the void and start to broadcast these beloved programs in Southern California...

After the five long, tortuous years that it took Italian authorities to make their dubious case against former Getty Museum antiquities curator Marion True, the trial is over -- at last.  It didn't prove either the curator's innocence or the validity of the prosecutors' claim that True knowingly acquired for the Getty numerous ancient artifacts which had been illegally excavated and then smuggled out of Italy. In an all-too-familiar example of excruciating Italian bureaucracy, the criminal charges simply exceeded the statute of limitations, and the trial, as the LA Times put it, "ended in a bureaucratic whimper."

WEB EXCLUSIVE! Whether in scorching heat or foggy gloom, driving along the PCH toward Pepperdine University in Malibu is always a pleasure. My goal was to see the exhibition Inspired by Fashion and Finance presenting artworks created in the last forty years and pulled from the holdings of the Weisman Art Foundation. Though this exhibition doesn’t break any new ground, it definitely provides plenty of amusement and food for thought...

By nature I'm not an envious person, but this morning, going through the Los Angeles and New York Times - I felt a pang of jealousy. There, on the front page of the New York Times, was a glowing report about the major Claude Monet exhibition that just opened at the Grand Palais in Paris. And if that's not enough, this front-page article was illustrated by an attractive photograph, with the report continuing on the inside with a generous half-page of text accompanied by an even larger color photograph..

When I mentioned in last week's program, The Best of 9/11, the captivating exhibition of Italian artist Alberto Burri currently on display at the Santa Monica Museum of Art, I was still ignorant of the most important and dramatic experience of his life. While serving as a physician in the Italian army in North Africa, he was captured in 1943 by American troops and then imprisoned for three years at a POW camp in Texas...

Hello, my name is Edward Goldman, and I am an art-aholic. There, I've said it. Dope, drugs, and alcohol don't do much for me, but art...that is another matter. Art has held me in its grip for as long as I can remember. If, God forbid, there is no museum or art gallery within thirty minutes of wherever I am, my blood pressure drops dangerously to the point where demons start dancing in front of my eyes...

Most artists, before developing their own unique voice and signature style, go through lengthy and often difficult rites of passage. The amazing exhibition of Arshile Gorky currently on view at LA's Museum of Contemporary Art has numerous examples of his earlier works, where we see the young artist gradually absorbing the ideas and energy of Modern Art – a kind of art he knew next to nothing about before emigrating from Armenia to the United States in 1920...

Monday's announcement that Los Angeles art collector and philanthropist Eli Broad had finally chosen downtown as the location for his new museum did not necessarily come as a big surprise. After all, he has always been deeply involved with the Grand Avenue Project, which was intended to revitalize downtown LA through commercial and cultural development..

So, ladies and gentlemen, here is the Art Gospel, according to Edward Goldman: The Top Ten reasons – no, Ten Commandments - urging your support for KCRW, the radio station par excellence...

If you've never been to the Pacific Design Center, it might be a challenge to find the satellite galleries of the Museum of Contemporary Art there. The small separate building stands near the busy intersection of San Vicente and Santa Monica Boulevard, but driving by you wouldn't see the large banner advertising the current exhibition. Only by approaching this building on foot via the PDC plaza will you see the banner announcing the new exhibition by video artist Ryan Trecartin titled Any Ever...